AT&T to withhold CEO Stephenson’s bonus, freeze employee salaries
By Will Park on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 5:15 PM PST In AT&T, Announcements, Financial/Corporate News
Times, they sure are tough right now, and everyone is feeling the pain. Despite a stellar year for iPhone sales and revenue, AT&T (NYSE: T) recently posted lackluster Q4 financial results. AT&T’s disappointing Q4 results rode in on the back of AT&T’s announcement that the US’s No. 2 wireless carrier will be cutting costs to the tune of 12,000 employees. The latest financial news coming out of Big Blue has CEO Randall Stephenson actually forgoing his multi-million dollar yearly bonus and freezing salaries for 120,000 managerial employees.
Mr. Stephenson cited his last-year performance as a reason for giving up his bonus. “Randall Stephenson today asked the AT&T Board that he not be awarded the bonus he earned based on last year’s performance against the targets set,” AT&T said in a statement sent by a spokesman.
It’s unclear just how much money Stephenson is passing up, but last year’s CEO-bonus amounted to $4.5 million. Regardless of what Stephenson’s 2008 bonus would have been, AT&T could sure use the extra millions to pay their 12,000 employees’ severance packages.
[Via: Reuters]
It’s not surprising…. Labor contracts are up this year, and one group of CWA workers may be going on strike. This is just a management tactic to show that the “management group” is giving something up.
Just FYI, the layoffs were almost exclusively in the landline division or other parts of AT&T. The Mobility division was mentioned in the press release because it was not hit with any of the layoffs.
Gee, he sure gave up a lot. Passed on his bonus and picked up $9 million in stock awards in January alone. What a trooper. I’m sure all his employees are sharpening knives about now so they can get behind him and help with his heroic sacrifice.